《凱斯賓王子》第10章:獅王歸來
To keep along the edge of the gorge was not so easy as it had looked. Before they had gone many yards they were confronted with young fir woods growing on the very edge, and after they had tried to go through these, stooping and pushing for about ten minutes, they realized that, in there, it would take them an hour to do half a mile. So they came back and out again and decided to go round the fir wood. This took them much farther to their right than they wanted to go, far out of sight of the cliffs and out of sound of the river, till they began to be afraid they had lost it altogether. Nobody knew the time, but it was getting to the hottest part of the day.
When they were able at last to go back to the edge of the gorge (nearly a mile below the point from which they had started) they found the cliffs on their side of it a good deal lower and more broken. Soon they found a way down into the gorge and continued the journey at the river's edge. But first they had a rest and a long drink. No one was talking any more about breakfast, or even dinner, with Caspian.
They may have been wise to stick to the Rush instead of going along the top. It kept them sure of their direction: and ever since the fir wood they had all been afraid of being forced too far out of their course and losing themselves in the wood. It was an old and pathless forest, and you could not keep anything like a straight course in it. Patches of hopeless brambles, fallen trees, boggy places and dense undergrowth would be always getting in your way. But the gorge of the Rush was not at all a nice place for travelling either. I mean, it was not a nice place for people in a hurry. For an afternoon's ramble ending in a picnic tea it would have been delightful. It had everything you could want on an occasion of that sort - rumbling waterfalls, silver cascades, deep, amber-coloured pools, mossy rocks, and deep moss on the banks in which you could sink over your ankles, every kind of fern, jewel-like dragon flies, sometimes a hawk overhead and once (Peter and Trumpkin. both thought) an eagle. But of course what the children and the Dwarf wanted to see as soon as possible was the Great River below them, and Beruna, and the way to Aslan's How.
As they went on, the Rush began to fall more and more steeply. Their journey became more and more of a climb and less and less of a walk - in places even a dangerous climb over slippery rock with a nasty drop into dark chasms, and the river roaring angrily at the bottom.
You may be sure they watched the cliffs on their left eagerly for any sign of a break or any place where they could climb them; but those cliffs remained cruel. It was maddening, because everyone knew that if once they were out of the gorge on that side, they would have only a smooth slope and a fairly short walk to Caspian's headquarters.
The boys and the Dwarf were now in favour of lighting a fire and cooking their bear-meat. Susan didn't want this; she only wanted, as she said, "to get on and finish it and get out of these beastly woods". Lucy was far too tired and miserable to have any opinion about anything. But as there was no dry wood to be had, it mattered very little what anyone thought. The boys began to wonder if raw meat was really as nasty as they had always been told. Trumpkin assured them it was.
Of course, if the children had attempted a journey like this a few days ago in England, they would have been knocked up. I think I have explained before how Narnia was altering them. Even Lucy was by now, so to speak, only one-third of a little girl going to boarding school for the first time, and two-thirds of Queen Lucy of Narnia.
"At last!" said Susan.
"Oh, hurray!" said Peter.
The river gorge had just made a bend and the whole view spread out beneath them. They could see open country stretching before them to the horizon and, between it and them, the broad silver ribbon of the Great River. They could see the specially broad and shallow place which had once been the Fords of Beruna but was now spanned by a long, many-arched bridge. There was a little town at the far end of it.
"By Jove," said Edmund. "We fought the Battle of Beruna just where that town is!"
This cheered the boys more than anything. You can't help feeling stronger when you look at a place where you won a glorious victory not to mention a kingdom, hundreds of years ago. Peter and Edmund were soon so busy talking about the battle that they forgot their sore feet and the heavy drag of their mail shirts on their shoulders. The Dwarf was interested too.
They were all getting on at a quicker pace now. The going became easier. Though there were still sheer cliffs on their left, the ground was becoming lower on their right. Soon it was no longer a gorge at all, only a valley. There were no more waterfalls and presently they were in fairly thick woods again.
Then - all at once - whizz, and a sound rather like the stroke of a woodpecker. The children were still wondering where (ages ago) they had heard a sound just like that and why they disliked it so, when Trumpkin shouted, "Down', at the same moment forcing Lucy (who happened to be next to him) flat down into the bracken. Peter, who had been looking up to see if he could spot a squirrel, had seen what it was - a long cruel arrow had sunk into a tree trunk just above his head. As he pulled Susan down and dropped himself, another came rasping over his shoulder and struck the ground at his side.
"Quick! Quick! Get back! Crawl!" panted Trumpkin.
They turned and wriggled along uphill, under the bracken amid clouds of horribly buzzing flies. Arrows whizzed round them. One struck Susan's helmet with a sharp ping and glanced off. They crawled quicker. Sweat poured off them. Then they ran, stooping nearly double. The boys held their swords in their hands for fear they would trip them up.
It was heart-breaking work - all uphill again, back over the ground they had already travelled. When they felt that they really couldn't run any more, even to save their lives, they all dropped down in the damp moss beside a waterfall and behind a big boulder, panting. They were surprised to see how high they had already got.
They listened intently and heard no sound of pursuit.
"So that's all right," said Trumpkin, drawing a deep breath. "They're not searching the wood. Only sentries, I expect. But it means that Miraz has an outpost down there. Bottles and battledores! though, it was a near thing."
"I ought to have my head smacked for bringing us this way at all," said Peter.
"On the contrary, your Majesty," said the Dwarf. "For one thing it wasn't you, it was your royal brother, King Edmund, who first suggested going by Glasswater."
"I'm afraid the D.L.F.'s right," said Edmund, who had quite honestly forgotten this ever since things began going wrong.
"And for another," continued Trumpkin, "if we'd gone my way, we'd have walked straight into that new outpost, most likely; or at least had just the same trouble avoiding it. I think this Glasswater route has turned out for the best."
"A blessing in disguise," said Susan.
"Some disguise!" said Edmund.
"I suppose we'll have to go right up the gorge again now," said Lucy.
"Lu, you're a hero," said Peter. "That's the nearest you've got today to saying I told you so. Let's get on."
"And as soon as we're well up into the forest," said Trumpkin, "whatever anyone says, I'm going to light a fire and cook supper. But we must get well away from here."
There is no need to describe how they toiled back up the gorge. It was pretty hard work, but oddly enough everyone felt more cheerful. They were getting their second wind; and the word supper had had a wonderful effect.
They reached the fir wood which had caused them so much trouble while it was still daylight, and bivouacked in a hollow just above it. It was tedious gathering the firewood; but it was grand when the fire blazed up and they began producing the damp and smeary parcels of bear-meat which would have been so very unattractive to anyone who had spent the day indoors. The Dwarf had splendid ideas about cookery. Each apple (they still had a few of these) was wrapped up in bear's meat - as if it was to be apple dumpling with meat instead of pastry, only much thicker - and spiked on a sharp stick and then roasted. And the juice of the apple worked all through the meat, like apple sauce with roast pork. Bear that has lived too much on other animals is not very nice, but bear that has had plenty of honey and fruit is excellent, and this turned out to be that sort of bear. It was a truly glorious meal. And, of course, no washing up - only lying back and watching the smoke from Trumpkin's pipe and stretching one's tired legs and chatting. Everyone felt quite hopeful now about finding King Caspian tomorrow and defeating Miraz in a few days. It may not have been sensible of them to feel like this, but they did.
They dropped off to sleep one by one, but all pretty quickly.
Lucy woke out of the deepest sleep you can imagine, with the feeling that the voice she liked best in the world had been calling her name. She thought at first it was her father's voice, but that did not seem quite right. Then she thought it was Peter's voice, but that did not seem to fit either. She did not want to get up; not because she was still tired - on the contrary she was wonderfully rested and all the aches had gone from her bones - but because she felt so extremely happy and comfortable. She was looking straight up at the Narnian moon, which is larger than ours, and at the starry sky, for the place where they had bivouacked was comparatively open.
"Lucy," came the call again, neither her father's voice nor Peter's. She sat up, trembling with excitement but not with fear. The moon was so bright that the whole forest landscape around her was almost as clear as day, though it looked wilder. Behind her was the fir wood; away to her right the jagged cliff-tops on the far side of the gorge; straight ahead, open grass to where a glade of trees began about a bow-shot away. Lucy looked very hard at the trees of that glade.
"Why, I do believe they're moving," she said to herself. "They're walking about."
She got up, her heart beating wildly, and walked towards them. There was certainly a noise in the glade, a noise such as trees make in a high wind, though there was no wind tonight. Yet it was not exactly an ordinary treenoise either. Lucy felt there was a tune in it, but she could not catch the tune any more than she had been able to catch the words when the trees had so nearly talked to her the night before. But there was, at least, a lilt; she felt her own feet wanting to dance as she got nearer. And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ("And I suppose," thought Lucy, "when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.') She was almost among them now.
The first tree she looked at seemed at first glance to be not a tree at all but a huge man with a shaggy beard and great bushes of hair. She was not frightened: she had seen such things before. But when she looked again he was only a tree, though he was still moving. You couldn't see whether he had feet or roots, of course, because when trees move they don't walk on the surface of the earth; they wade in it as we do in water. The same thing happened with every tree she looked at. At one moment they seemed to be the friendly, lovely giant and giantess forms which the tree-people put on when some good magic has called them into full life: next moment they all looked like trees again. But when they looked like trees, it was like strangely human trees, and when they looked like people, it was like strangely branchy and leafy people - and all the time that queer lilting, rustling, cool, merry noise.
"They are almost awake, not quite," said Lucy. She knew she herself was wide awake, wider than anyone usually is.
She went fearlessly in among them, dancing herself as she leaped this way and that to avoid being run into by these huge partners. But she was only half interested in them. She wanted to get beyond them to something else; it was from beyond them that the dear voice had called.
She soon got through them (half wondering whether she had been using her arms to push branches aside, or to take hands in a Great Chain with big dancers who stooped to reach her) for they were really a ring of trees round a central open place. She stepped out from among their shifting confusion of lovely lights and shadows.
A circle of grass, smooth as a lawn, met her eyes, with dark trees dancing all round it. And then - oh joy! For he was there: the huge Lion, shining white in the moonlight, with his huge black shadow underneath him.
But for the movement of his tail he might have been a stone lion, but Lucy never thought of that. She never stopped to think whether he was a friendly lion or not. She rushed to him. She felt her heart would burst if she lost a moment. And the next thing she knew was that she was kissing him and putting her arms as far round his neck as she could and burying her face in the beautiful rich silkiness of his mane.
"Aslan, Aslan. Dear Aslan," sobbed Lucy. "At last."
The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all round her. She gazed up into the large wise face.
"Welcome, child," he said.
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."
For a time she was so happy that she did not want to speak. But Aslan spoke.
"Lucy," he said, "we must not lie here for long. You have work in hand, and much time has been lost today."
"Yes, wasn't it a shame?" said Lucy. "I saw you all right. They wouldn't believe me. They're all so -"
From somewhere deep inside Aslan's body there came the faintest suggestion of a growl.
"I'm sorry," said Lucy, who understood some of his moods. "I didn't mean to start slanging the others. But it wasn't my fault anyway, was it?"
The Lion looked straight into her eyes.
"Oh, Aslan," said Lucy. "You don't mean it was? How could I - I couldn't have left the others and come up to you alone, how could I? Don't look at me like that . . . oh well, I suppose I could. Yes, and it wouldn't have been alone, I know, not if I was with you. But what would have been the good?"
Aslan said nothing.
"You mean," said Lucy rather faintly, "that it would have turned out all right - somehow? But how? Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?"
"To know what would have happened, child?" said Aslan. "No. Nobody is ever told that."
"Oh dear," said Lucy.
"But anyone can find out what will happen," said Aslan. "If you go back to the others now, and wake them up; and tell them you have seen me again; and that you must all get up at once and follow me - what will happen? There is only one way of finding out."
"Do you mean that is what you want me to do?" gasped Lucy.
"Yes, little one," said Aslan.
"Will the others see you too?" asked Lucy.
"Certainly not at first," said Aslan. "Later on, it depends."
"But they won't believe me!" said Lucy.
"It doesn't matter," said Aslan.
"Oh dear, oh dear," said Lucy. "And I was so pleased at finding you again. And I thought you'd let me stay. And I thought you'd come roaring in and frighten all the enemies away - like last time. And now everything is going to be horrid."
"It is hard for you, little one," said Aslan. "But things never happen the same way twice. It has been hard for us all in Narnia before now."
Lucy buried her head in his mane to hide from his face. But there must have been magic in his mane. She could feel lion-strength going into her. Quite suddenly she sat up.
"I'm sorry, Aslan," she said. "I'm ready now."
"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed. But come. We have no time to lose."
He got up and walked with stately, noiseless paces back to the belt of dancing trees through which she had just come: and Lucy went with him, laying a rather tremulous hand on his mane. The trees parted to let them through and for one second assumed their human forms completely. Lucy had a glimpse of tall and lovely wood-gods and wood-goddesses all bowing to the Lion; next moment they were trees again, but still bowing, with such graceful sweeps of branch and trunk that their bowing was itself a kind of dance.
"Now, child," said Aslan, when they had left the trees behind them, "I will wait here. Go and wake the others and tell them to follow. If they will not, then you at least must follow me alone."
It is a terrible thing to have to wake four people, all older than yourself and all very tired, for the purpose of telling them something they probably won't believe and making them do something they certainly won't like. "I mustn't think about it, I must just do it," thought Lucy.
She went to Peter first and shook him. "Peter," she whispered in his ear, "wake up. Quick. Aslan is here. He says we've got to follow him at once."
"Certainly, Lu. Whatever you like," said Peter unexpectedly. This was encouraging, but as Peter instantly rolled round and went to sleep again it wasn't much use.
Then she tried Susan. Susan did really wake up, but only to say in her most annoying grown-up voice, "You've been dreaming, Lucy. Go to sleep again."
She tackled Edmund next. It was very difficult to wake him, but when at last she had done it he was really awake and sat up.
"Eh?" he said in a grumpy voice. "What are you talking about?"
She said it all over again. This was one of the worst parts of her job, for each time she said it, it sounded less convincing.
"Aslan!" said Edmund, jumping up. "Hurray! Where?"
Lucy turned back to where she could see the Lion waiting, his patient eyes fixed upon her. "There," she said, pointing.
"Where?" asked Edmund again.
"There. There. Don't you see? Just this side of the trees."
Edmund stared hard for a while and then said, "No. There's nothing there. You've got dazzled and muddled with the moonlight. One does, you know. I thought I saw something for a moment myself. It's only an optical what-do-you-call-it."
"I can see him all the time," said Lucy. "He's looking straight at us."
"Then why can't I see him?"
"He said you mightn't be able to."
"Why?"
"I don't know. That's what he said."
"Oh, bother it all," said Edmund. "I do wish you wouldn't keep on seeing things. But I suppose we'll have to wake the others."
他們終於繞回到峽谷邊上時(差不多已經是在他們出發地點下面一英里處)，發現腳下的峭壁低下去許多，塌裂也更加嚴重。不久，他們找到一條通向下游峽谷去的路，就繼續往前走，沒人再提起和凱斯賓共進早餐甚至共進晚餐的話了。
這是一片古老的、沒有人跡的森林，裏面沒有一條直路。大叢大叢根本進不去的荊棘，倒了的大樹，沼澤地，以及茂密的低矮林叢，不時在前面擋住他們的去路。這地方真可謂路途艱難，更何況他們又是些匆忙趕路的人；如果是漫步郊遊，走累了在這裏野餐，那麼倒是不錯。這裏的景緻應有盡有轟鳴的大瀑布、銀光閃閃的小瀑布、深深的琥珀色水潭、覆蓋着青苔的岩石，還有岸邊厚厚的泥沼，不小心走上去，會一下子陷到腳踩。此外，各種蕨類植物和寶石般的蜻蜓舉目可見;頭頂上時而掠過一隻寶善，甚至偶爾可以看到雄鷹在空中朝翔。當然囉，他們此時想要儘快看到的，是前面的大河口，是柏盧納，是通向阿斯蘭堡壘的道路。
下面的路越來越陡，他們行進得也越來越艱難，越來越慢——有時甚至要冒險在滑溜的岩石上攀行，身下是可怕的黑暗深淵，湍急的河水洶涌澎湃。
就這樣，他們緊盯着腳下的峭壁，一邊努力搜尋着任何一個縫隙，任何一個可攀爬的地方。險道無情，令人惱火，可是大家咬緊牙關繼續向前走，相信一旦走出峽谷，再穿過一段平緩的山坡，就會到達凱斯賓的指揮部了。
這時，男孩子們和小矮人主張找個平坦些的地方，架起篝火，烤些熊肉充飢。蘇珊卻不同意，她堅持要"走下去，走到底，走出這可憎的地方"。露茜這時已經疲憊不堪，什麼意見也不想提了。其實，這一路上，根本看不到平地和乾柴，所以主意再好也是白搭。兩個男孩肚子裏咕咕直叫，開始懷疑生肉是否真如想象中的那樣髒，那樣難以下嚥。:
"哇!總算走出來了!”蘇珊如釋重負地說。"哦，太好了!"彼得也喊道。
峽谷到了盡頭，河水在這裏轉了個彎。從崖頂望去，展現在他們面前的是一片嶄新的天地——開闊的平原一直向前延伸，彷彿與天空渾爲一體。橫在大平原與他們之間的河水，就像一條寬寬的銀色緞帶，緩緩流過。有一處河面格外寬，河水也格外淺，孩子們一下子都認出來那就是柏盧納渡口，惟一不同的是現在那裏架起了一座長長的多孔橋。再向前望去，橋的另一端通向一個小村落。
"天哪，"愛德蒙說，"我們就是在那個地方打贏了柏盧納戰役!"
沒有什麼更能使男孩子們振奮、昂揚的了。當你故地重遊，回到你曾經取得輝煌勝利獲得巨大光榮的戰場，你就會不由自主地感到非常驕傲，勇氣倍增。回想往事，彼得和愛德蒙津津樂道，忘記了一路上的勞累和渾身的痠痛，也忘記了身上盔甲的沉重。小矮人更是聽得睜大了眼睛，臉上顯出無限的欽佩和神往。
休息片刻後，這一行人繼續往前走，大家加快腳步。道路也好走了-些。雖然左邊還有峭壁懸崖，右邊的平地卻漸漸開闊起來，不久，他們進入了一片茂密的叢林。
突然，"嗖——"什麼東西從他們頭頂飛過，然後打在樹幹上，那聲音就像啄木鳥在樹上啄了一下。孩子們還在納悶曾經在什麼地方聽到過類似的使人感到不舒服的聲音，就聽杜魯普金喊了一聲"臥倒!"同時使勁把身邊的露茜按倒在灌木叢中。彼得本來正朝上面看，想瞧瞧有沒有松鼠，結果卻看到一支銳利無情的箭，剛好掠過頭頂深深扎進身旁的樹幹。他急忙拉了蘇珊一把，讓她臥倒。自己剛剛彎下身，另一支箭已經射了過來，擦着他的肩頭，紮在身邊的地上。
"快!快!向後撤!趴到地上!”杜魯普金喘着粗氣說。
他們轉過身，在灌木叢的掩護下，在成羣蒼蠅令人厭惡的嗡嗡聲中，往山上爬去。一支箭射在蘇珊的頭盔上，迸出了火星。他們加快爬行的速度，片刻間便一個個大汗淋漓，氣喘吁吁。過了一會兒，他們索性站起身，貓着腰跑起來。男孩子們跑在後面，手裏緊握着寶劍，以防敵人追上來。
這奔跑太累入了——全是上坡，沿着他們剛纔走過的路。終於，他們感到實在跑不動了，便一下子癱倒在瀑布旁一塊大石頭後邊，呼哧呼哧喘個不停。當他們漸漸平靜下來，四下一望，才發現自己居然已經跑到這麼高的地方，不由感到十分驚奇。)
杜魯普金側耳聽了半天，沒有跟蹤者的動靜。
"這下不要緊了，"他長長地舒了一口氣，"他們沒有搜索森林，看樣子是些哨兵。但這至少表明，彌若茲在那裏設有一個前哨基地，真是可恨!"
"我真該死，把大家帶到這條路上來。"彼得內疚地說。"陛下，你說錯了，"小矮人眨巴眨巴眼睛，"那不是你，而是你尊貴的弟弟，愛德蒙國王。他提議我們順着清水河走的。"
"DLF記得不錯。"愛德蒙說;起先他忘記了這一點，現在想了起來。
"可話又說回來，"杜魯普金繼續說，"要是走我來的那條路，我們很可能會直接走進敵人新設的前哨陣地，或者在試圖繞開時遇到類似的麻煩。其實我認爲，我們選擇的仍然是一條最有利的路。"
"這樣看來剛纔的事情不是禍，反而是幸運。"蘇珊說。"表面上不是，實際上是。"愛德蒙說。
"也許我們只好沿着峽谷重新往上游方向走了。"露茜說。
"露，你真了不起!”彼得說，"你本來完全可以指責我們當初沒有聽你的忠告。好，咱們立即動身，往上游方向走。"
"我們一到上面森林裏，"杜魯普金堅定地說，"不管你們說什麼，我都要點起火堆做飯了。當然，我們必須先離開這裏。"
雖然他們在返回的路上吃了許多苦頭，可說來也怪，大家反而情緒高漲起來，身上彷彿又充滿了活力。"過一會兒就有飯吃"這個念頭起了奇妙的作用。
來到杉樹林的時候，天色還早，他們在一塊空地前停下來，準備在這兒露營。揀枯枝是個單調的活兒，可是當篝火熊熊燃起的時候，那真是令人高興。他們開始動手收拾那些溼乎乎油膩膩的熊肉。對那些足不出戶、飽食終日的人們來說，這肉的樣子真讓人倒胃口。小矮人在烹調上有很多高招，他把蘋果切成小塊，然後用肉裹起來——就像蘋果餡餃子，只是個兒大得多，而且是用熊肉不是用麪粉來做餃子皮——然後插在一根削尖的樹枝上，用火來烤。蘋果汁滲出來，沾滿了熊肉，彷彿塗了一層蘋果醬。有一種食肉的熊，它的肉很粗，一點兒也不好吃，另一種以蜂蜜、水果爲主食，它的肉則細嫩可口，味道好極了。眼前的熊肉就屬於後者。這簡直是一頓極其精美的晚餐，而且飯後用不着洗碗——大家各自選個舒適的位置，往樹上一靠，伸開疲勞的雙腿，漫不經心地望着杜魯普金菸斗裏冒出的縷縷白煙，隨便聊了起來。每個人都覺得，明天就能找到凱斯賓國王，並且在幾天之內準能打敗彌若茲，誰也說不出這信心來自哪裏，可的確都有這種感覺。
沒有多久，他們便一個個進入了夢鄉。
突然露茜從香甜的沉睡中驚醒過來，她彷彿聽到一個十分親切的聲音在呼喚她的名字。開始她以爲那是爸爸的聲音，可不太像;接着她想到那是彼得，仔細再一聽，似乎也不是。她不願費心去猜想了，這並不是因爲她感到很累——相反她休息得非常好，渾身痠痛全都消失了——而是因爲她感到極度的幸福和舒適。他們露營的地方比較開闊，她擡頭朝天上望去，那輪納尼亞的明月比我們世界的月亮要大，繁星點點令人陶醉。
"露茜。"那聲音又一次在呼喚她，不是爸爸，也不是彼得。她坐了起來，激動得微微發抖，但絲毫也不感到害怕。月光亮極了，四周森林的景象清晰可見，像在白天一般，儘管看上去顯得十分荒蕪。她身後是杉樹林，右邊遠遠的地方聳立着峽谷對面的峭壁險峯，正前方大約二十米開外，開闊的草地伸向樹林中的一片空地，露茜的目光突然停了下來。
"咦，那些樹在移動?"她驚訝地自言自語道，"它們好像在走路。"
她站起身來，心怦怦地跳着，慢慢朝那個方向走去。在那片空地上似乎有什麼響動，雖然這時一點兒風都沒有，可是樹木卻發出了沙沙聲。當然，這絕對不是樹林通常發出來的那種聲音。露茜感到那沙沙聲隱隱伴着-種旋律，可她辨不出那是怎樣的旋律，正如前天夜裏她聽不清那些樹的竊竊私語一樣。可至少她聽得出有-定的節奏，再往前走近一些，她覺得自己的雙腳隨着那節奏不由自主地竟想要跳舞了。這時，已經不必懷疑，那些樹真的是在動——往來交錯，像是一場挺複雜的民間舞蹈。這時她幾乎是置身於它們之間了。"
她遇到的第一棵樹看上去像是個巨人，長着粗亂的鬍子和蓬鬆的頭髮。她一點兒不害怕，反而感到老友重逢的喜悅。那巨人在笨拙地擺動着，你看不到它的腳，或者說樹根，因爲它移動的時候，不是踩在地面上，而是在土裏蹬來踵去，就像我們走在水裏一樣。她望望別的樹，全是這樣。它們時而呈現出友善、可愛的巨人形狀，像被施了魔法，時而又恢復了樹的本來面曰。當它們現出樹的形狀時，看上去是非常奇特的人形樹;而當它們現出人形時，那樣子又很像奇特的生着枝葉的樹形人。那奇異的節奏和歡快的沙沙聲一直在響着。2
"它們快要甦醒過來了。"露茜喃喃地說。她明白自己此刻是完全清醒的，比任何人都清醒。
她毫無懼色地走到它們中間，一邊不停地跳來跳去，免得被這些高大的夥伴碰倒。露茜此時並不想跳舞，她匆匆走過婆婆多姿的樹羣，去尋找別的什麼——正是從樹林的另一邊，傳來那親切的聲音，一聲聲把她呼喚。'
她很快就穿過樹林(搞不清她是用手臂把樹枝推開的呢，還是拉住了那些高大的向她彎下腰來的舞蹈家的手)，從那可愛的光和影的不斷交替所造成的迷惑中走了出來。
在她的眼前是一片平整的草坪，周圍是深顏色的大樹在舞蹈。啊，阿斯蘭|它在那兒|那威風凜凜的巨獅在月光下巍然不動，地上投下它一大片黑黑的身影。
要不是它的尾巴擺了一下，你簡直看不出那是一個有靈性的血肉之軀。露茜毫不遲疑地向它跑去，根本就沒有停下來想一想，這會不會是一隻兇惡的、吃人的獅子。她激動萬分，只覺得稍一放慢腳步，那顆火熱的心就會從胸腔裏跳出來。在一片興奮的迷茫中，她記得自己用雙臂緊緊地摟住阿斯蘭的脖子，不停地呼喚它，親吻它，並且把自己的臉埋進它那美麗而有光澤，像緞子般柔軟光滑的鬃毛裏面。
"阿斯蘭，阿斯蘭，親愛的阿斯蘭，"露茜哽咽着，"終於見到你了。"
這隻巨獸側身躺下來，露茜也隨着俯下身去，半靠在它兩條前腿之間。阿斯蘭把頭伸過來，用舌頭輕輕舔舔她的鼻子，它那溫暖的氣息立刻遍佈了她的全身。她擡起頭來，眼望着那巨大的、充滿智慧的臉。
"歡迎你，孩子。"它說。
"阿斯蘭，"露茜說，"你又長大了。"
"那是因爲你的年齡增長了，小傢伙。"它回答道。"你沒有增長嗎?"
"我沒有，但是你一年年長大，你也會發現我的個子越來越大。"
露茜高興得簡直不知說什麼好了。還是阿斯蘭打破了沉默。
"露茜，"它說，"我們不能在這裏呆很久，有許多事情等着我們去做呢。今天已經浪費掉不少時間了。"
"是的，浪費了那麼多時間，真急人!"露茜說，想起白天那一幕來。"我看見你在山頂上示意我們上去，可他們都不相信我的話，他們都那麼——"
阿斯蘭微微皺了一下眉頭。
"對不起，"露茜馬上明白了雄獅的意思，"我並不想說別人的不好，可那不是我的錯，對嗎？"
獅子直視着她的眼睛。
"噢，阿斯蘭，"露茜說，"你不認爲那是我的錯吧?我怎麼能——我不能離開別人，獨自一人爬上山來找你，我怎麼能夠呢?別那麼看着我……噢，好吧，假設我能夠，是的，跟你在一起，我不會感到孤單，可那又有什麼用呢？”
阿斯蘭沒有說話。
"你的意思是，"露茜的聲音低了下去，"那樣形勢就會有所不同——多少好一些?告訴我，阿斯蘭!那會發生什麼事情?"
"想要知道可能發生卻未能發生的事情嗎，孩子?"阿斯蘭深沉地說，"告訴你又有什麼用乃至是讓我們想一想將會發生什麼事情吧。立即回到夥伴們的身邊去，喚醒他們，告訴他們你又見到了我，然後立刻起身跟我走——以後會發生什麼事情，我想你能猜得出來。"
"你是說，要我馬上去做這些事情?""是的，小傢伙。"
"我這就帶他們來見你?"
"暫時還不要，"阿斯蘭想一想說，"晚一些吧，時機還不成熟。"
"可他們不會相信我！"
"不必擔心。""
"噢，親愛的阿斯蘭!找到你，我真高興，我原來以爲你會讓我留在你身邊的;我還以爲你會大吼一聲，把敵人都趕走的——-就像上次那樣。可是現在，我感到有些害怕!”
"對你來說，這的確很困難，我的朋友，"阿斯蘭說，"可事情永遠不會以同樣的方式發生兩次，在這以前，我們大家在納尼亞都吃了苦頭。"
露茜把她的頭埋在巨獅的鬃毛裏，不去看它的臉。阿斯蘭的身上一定有什麼魔力，她清楚地感到，獅子的力量漸漸傳到她自己的身上。她突地一下坐了起來。
"請原諒我一時的軟弱，阿斯蘭，"她勇敢地說，"現在，我一切都準備好了。"
"孩子，你已具有獅子的勇氣和力量了，"阿斯蘭說，"從現在起，整個納尼亞將要恢復它往日的尊嚴。來吧，我們不能浪費時間了。"
它站起身來，邁開莊嚴、有力的步伐，無聲無息地向舞蹈着的樹林走去。露茜穩步走在它的身邊。大樹爲她們閃開一條路來，而且有秒鐘，完全顯示出它們人的模樣。露茜瞥見了高大、可愛的森林仙子和仙女們。她們一齊向阿斯蘭鞠躬致敬。轉眼之間，她們又恢復了樹的形狀，可依然在鞠躬，樹枝和樹幹優雅地擺動着。她們的敬禮實在也就是一種舞蹈。
"好了，孩子，"她們走過樹林後阿斯蘭說，"我等在這裏，你去喚醒他們幾個，一齊跟着我。假如他們不相信，那麼，至少你自己要跟着我。"
把四個熟睡的人從夢中喚醒真不是件容易的事，況且他們都比你年長，又都十分疲勞。尤其困難的是，你只不過爲了要告訴他們一些他們很可能不相信的話，要讓他們去做一件他們肯定不情願做的事情。"我不能想那麼多，我一定要努力做好這件事。"露茜暗自下定了決心。
她先走到彼得身邊，搖搖他的肩膀。"彼得，"她在他耳邊小聲叫道，"醒醒，快，阿斯蘭在這兒。它讓我們大家馬上跟它離開這兒。"
"好吧，露，這就走。"彼得回答得很痛快，真是出人意料，這使露茜很受鼓舞。沒想到彼得翻了個身，一眨眼工夫又睡着了。第一次努力毫無結果。
接着她又去喊蘇珊。蘇珊倒的確是醒過來了，卻只是用她那令人討厭的大人腔說"你又說夢話了，露茜，快躺下來接着睡吧!"
露茜只好又去搖愛德蒙。叫醒他真難。好一會兒，愛德蒙才坐起身來。
"嗯?"他不高興地問，"你說什麼呢?"
她又重複了一遍。這真是她使命中最艱難的一部分。剛纔發生的事情，連她自己都有些不相信了。
"什麼?"愛德蒙跳了起來，"阿斯蘭!在哪兒?"
露茜轉過身來，她看得見阿斯蘭等在那裏。"在那兒。"她用手指着。
“哪兒?"愛德蒙瞪着眼望了半天，又問。
"那兒，那不是叮爾還沒看見?就在樹林的這一邊。"
愛德蒙又使勁盯着看了一會兒，然後說，"沒有，那兒什麼也沒有。你肯定是在月光下看花了眼，給弄糊塗了。有時候人就是這樣的，你知道。有那麼-瞬間我也覺得彷彿看到了什麼，結果，那不過是一種幻覺。"
"我一直都能看到它，"露茜說，"它一直在看着我們呢。"
"那爲什麼我就看不到它?"
"它說了，你們也許看不到它。""爲什麼?"
"我也不知道，那是它說的。"
"哎，真是的，"愛德蒙說，"我真希望你這不是得了什麼毛病。不過我想，最好還是把他們幾個都叫起來。"
